ΝΤΑ audit on illegal business activity exercise by an employee of a central government body in Western Macedonia and his systematic unjustified absence from duty.
Following an anonymous complaint, a team of NTA inspectors from Thessaloniki Regional Office carried out an audit at a central government entity based in Western Macedonia, regarding the presence of a specific employee in the Service during the period 2018-2022 and his supervision by the competent bodies of the entity, as well as the exercise of business activity by him abroad. In the framework of the audit, data was drawn from the open data on the internet of the National Operations Centre of Albania, while cooperation was developed with the Greek Embassy in Tirana, Albania (through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), as well as with the General Police Directorate of Thessaloniki.
In particular, the following were found during the inspection:
- The audited public official, in violation of the Code of Civil Servants
- He holds a 100% stake in a Limited Liability Company with the main object of retail and wholesale trade, from its establishment until today, while he also holds the status of its manager. The above activity developed at a time when the public official in question was on unpaid leave without informing his public service. The net profits of the public official concerned from his business activity abroad over the last four years amount to 120.000,00 € a multiple of his regular salary from his post in the public service.
- He was absent from the Service unjustifiably and intermittently for a total of approximately five months during the period under review. In particular, on days when he was demonstrably out of Greece (based on relevant data from the Hellenic Police), he appeared to be present at the same time at his Public Service based on the data recorded in the electronic attendance monitoring system of the audited entity and at the same time to sign supplies receipt minutes for the needs of his Service, thus casting doubt on the actual day of minutes signing in question.
In addition, during a specific period of five (5) months, there was no entry in the attendance register concerning his presence at the Public Service.
- The Heads of the public official concerned, in breach of the Code of Civil Servants
- They exercised inadequate audit over the employee in question, with regard to the observance of working hours and his general attendance at the Public Service. In particular, they did not have documented knowledge of his presence or not at the Office and of the exact daily and long-term whereabouts of their subordinate and of the tasks he was carrying out.
- No disciplinary action was taken against the employee in question for his absence from the Office.
- They did not take any action to notify the payroll administrator of the institution so that he could make a corresponding reduction in the salary of the employee.
In addition, a particular Head of the audited employee issued sixteen (16) external travel orders for him, without having the relevant authority and/or authorization.
The Secretary of the Decentralized Administration of Epirus-Western Macedonia was asked to exercise disciplinary control over the audited employee and his Heads, based on the above findings.
The Audit Report was also forwarded to the competent Public Prosecutor's Office for the investigation of any criminal charges.
In addition, the Audit Report includes specific proposals and recommendations to the audited entity, including the configuration of the electronic system for monitoring employees’ attendance, in order to have a direct, accurate and real-time picture from the morning of each working day of which employee is present and which is absent.